Therapy selection may be challenging in patients with contraindications or in those have failed initial treatment

A recent review published in the journal Pharmacotherapy summarizes recommendations for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection in special patient populations.

Recommendations for the treatment of H. pylori infection are outlined in the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) guidelines, which provide both first-line and alternative therapies. Generally, first-line treatment may include one of the following regimens:

However, in some cases, contraindications or initial treatment failure may make it challenging to treat certain patients with H. pylori infection. In their review, the authors looked at some of these challenges and provided first-line and alternative regimens for treatment based on an extensive literature search using the PubMed database. Particularly, they focused on the following clinical scenarios: patients with penicillin allergies, patients at risk for QTc-interval prolongation, pregnant and breastfeeding patients, and elderly patients.

In patients with penicillin allergies, clarithromycin triple therapy with metronidazole (when resistance is not a concern) or bismuth quadruple therapy (preferred in patients with previous macrolide exposure or if there is concern of macrolide resistance) were recommended as first-line therapies as both were deemed to be equally effective; alternative regimens in these patients included levofloxacin-based triple therapy (preferred) or rifabutin-based triple or quadruple therapy, both excluding amoxicillin.

As for patients at risk for QTc-interval prolongation, bismuth quadruple therapy was recommended as the treatment of choice. Alternative regimens, which were all found to be similarly effective, included amoxicillin-based dual therapy (preferred due to lower pill burden and decreased risk of drug interactions and adverse reactions), rifabutin-based triple or quadruple therapy, or triple therapy with amoxicillin, metronidazole, and a PPI, according to the review.